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USC vs. UCLA, Cal vs. Stanford – the men’s varsity season is coming to a close as highlighted by the huge rivalry games in NorCal and SoCal on Sunday. Both matches will be shown by the Pac-12 network and have important ramifications for MPSF Tournament seeding, coming soon after the closeout weekend.
The Southern California matchup is loaded with history aside from the generalized dislike between the Los Angeles schools. Recent times have brought with them a high level of quality on both sides, which has led to dramatic one-goal differentials between the sides. Fans can hope for the same on Sunday, and can delve in to the half-century history that marks the water polo rivalry, thanks to The Daily Bruin.
[R]ivalry matches [between UCLA and USC] have been decided by one goal, regardless of the predicament of each team, on too many occasions to count.
Since 2012 alone, one goal has decided the title game of the 2015 KAP7 SoCal Invitational, last year’s national championship, all three meetings in 2013 – two of which were settled in overtime – and all three meetings in 2012.
“Every time UCLA and USC suit up to play each other in any sport, it’s a big deal,” said senior utility Danny McClintick. “But in water polo it’s something special … there’s a lot of history…”
Daniel Leyson, now coach of the UC Davis men’s water polo team, started for USC during Horn’s last two seasons at UCLA…
“It’s definitely an odd sensation, having gone to USC and coached against USC as a coach for UCLA. Very, very strange sensation,” said Leyson. “You don’t really realize how deeply ingrained this competitive dislike goes. It’s almost like you’re trained mentally to not like the other school, and it really has an effect on your brain…”
Source: History of UCLA, USC men’s water polo rivalry spans more than 50 years
